Digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus

ABSTRACT

A digital broadcast signal of a channel received in a tuner is converted into digital data by a digital demodulation section. Based on the digital data, a CPU detects the partial of the corresponding subchannel from the whole transport stream (TS) of the digital data and causes a system controller to extract digital data of the subchannel and record the digital data on a hard disk in a predetermined format.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receivingand recording apparatus for receiving a multiplexed broadcast signalincluding a plurality of channels each having at least one subchannel,outputting to a display such as a television receiver, and recordingvideo data and audio data generated based on the broadcast signal.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] At present, a very large number of channels of digital broadcastsare provided; for example, 100 channels or more of digital broadcastscalled ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) system are providedin North America. Among the channels, one physical channel (simply,channel) may be made up of a plurality of subchannels, and programs on aplurality of subchannels may be broadcast in the same time period in onechannel.

[0005] Upon reception of the digital broadcast signal of the selectedchannel, a digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatusdemodulates the digital broadcast signal to digital data and thendecodes the digital data by a decoder, converts into an analog videosignal and an analog audio signal, and outputs the analog video signaland the analog audio signal to an analog television receiver.

[0006] The digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus includesrecording means for recording the provided digital data on a magneticrecord medium such as a hard disk, an optical disk, or the like andrecords the data following a record command of a user. To give therecord command, the user can press a record button of a controller suchas a remote controller, while any desired program is being broadcast orcan program the apparatus to record any desired program by setting thechannel number, the record start time, and the record end time based ona program guide, and when the preset start time is reached, recording ofthe program is started and when the preset end time is reached,recording of the program is ended.

[0007] However, if a large number of broadcast channels exist and onechannel contains a plurality of subchannels as described above, the usermight want to record only the necessary channel of the plurality ofsubchannels of his or her own will.

[0008] However, the digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatusin the related art records programs on all subchannels contained in thechannel in one recording. Thus, programs on unnecessary subchannels arealso recorded. When the record time becomes long, if programs onunnecessary subchannels are also recorded, the use capacity of therecord medium becomes enormous and the record capacity is wasted.

[0009] Hitherto, various arts of digital broadcast receiving andrecording apparatus have been designed including those disclosed inJP-A-2001-169194, JP-A-2002-176400, but a method of solving the problemas described above is not disclosed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a digitalbroadcast receiving and recording apparatus for enabling a user to setany desired subchannels to record the programs thereon for the user torecord programs on a plurality of subchannels contained in one channelin the same time period.

[0011] In order to achieve the above object of the invention, accordingto a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a digitalbroadcast receiving and recording apparatus including: a receive sectionadapted to receive a broadcast wave provided by multiplexing broadcastsignals of a plurality of channels each containing at least onesubchannel; a demodulate section adapted to demodulate the broadcastsignal of a selected channel and to generate video data and audio databased on the broadcast signal; a record section adapted to record thevideo data and the audio data generated by the demodulate section; and acontrol section adapted to control the record section so as to recordthe video data and the audio data of one of the subchannels contained inthe selected channel or to simultaneously record the video data and theaudio data of two or more of the subchannels according to a setupdescription.

[0012] According to the first aspect of the invention, one subchannel ora plurality of subchannels broadcast in the same time period within thesame channel are selected in response to the record description set bythe user, and the programs on the subchannels are recorded on the recordsection simultaneously.

[0013] According to a second aspect of the invention, in addition to thefirst aspect of the invention, the control section controls the recordsection so as to record the video data and the audio data of thesubchannel with the smallest subchannel number of the subchannelscontained in the selected channel.

[0014] According to the second aspect of the invention, when one channelis selected and the program thereon is recorded, the program(s) only onthe subchannel with the smallest subchannel number contained in thechannel is (are) recorded.

[0015] According to a third aspect of the invention, in addition to thefirst aspect of the invention, the control section controls the recordsection so as to simultaneously record the video data and the audio dataon a predetermined number of subchannels in the ascending order of thesubchannel numbers of the subchannels contained in the selected channel.

[0016] According to the third aspect of the invention, when one channelis selected and the program thereon is recorded, the programs on the twosubchannels in the ascending order of the subchannel numbers containedin the channel are automatically recorded.

[0017] According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in addition to thefirst aspect of the invention, when any of the subchannels for recordingbecomes unreceivable, the control section controls the record section soas to record the video data and the audio data of any other subchannelcontained in the selected channel whose reception is continued.

[0018] According to the fourth aspect of the invention, when any of thesubchannels preset for recording the programs thereon becomesunreceivable, the program only on any other subchannel preset forrecording the program thereon is continuously recorded on the recordsection. When any of the subchannels preset for recording the programsthereon becomes unreceivable, the program on any other subchannel thanthe subchannels with the setup subchannel numbers is not newly recorded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The above objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent by describing preferred exemplary embodimentthereof in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0020]FIG. 1 is a block diagram to schematically show a configuration ofa digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus according to anembodiment of the invention; and

[0021]FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing to show a broadcast timetable of onechannel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0022] A digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus accordingto an embodiment of the invention will be discussed with reference tothe accompanying drawings.

[0023]FIG. 1 is a block diagram to schematically show a configuration ofa digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus according to theinvention.

[0024] The digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus includesmain components of a tuner 12 (receive section), a digital demodulationsection 13 (demodulate section), a system controller 14 and a hard disk15 (storage medium) corresponding to storage section of the invention, adecoder 16, a user command reception section 20, and a CPU 11corresponding to control section of the invention.

[0025] The tuner 12 is connected to an antenna 17 and extracts andamplifies the digital broadcast signal of the channel selected by a userfrom broadcast waves received at the antenna 17 and outputs a digitalbroadcast signal to the digital demodulation section 13, which thenconverts the digital broadcast signal of the selected channel intodigital data and outputs the digital data through the system controller14 to the decoder 16. The decoder 16 decodes the input digital data togenerate an analog video signal and an analog audio signal and outputsthe signals to an analog television receiver (not shown). The analogtelevision receiver displays video on a screen based on the analog videosignal and outputs audio from audio output means such as a loudspeakerbased on the analog audio signal.

[0026] The selected channel is made up of three subchannels as shown inFIG. 2. When one subchannel is selected, the CPU 11 acquires a transportstream (TS) of the whole channel containing the selected subchannel anddetects a partial for identifying the selected subchannel. Based on thepartial, the CPU 11 controls the system controller 14 to output only theselected subchannel to the decoder 16. Thus, the user views only theselected subchannel.

[0027] When the user uses a remote controller to select so as to recordprograms of only the subchannel with the smallest subchannel number, theCPU 11 detects the partial of the corresponding subchannel from thewhole TS and causes the system controller 14 to extract digital data ofthe portion of the subchannel and record the digital data on the harddisk 15 in a predetermined format. The system controller 14 includesmemory and when the digital data is stored in the memory over apredetermined time, the system controller 14 repeats the operation ofconverting the stored digital data into a file in a predetermined formatand recording the file on the hard disk 15. at predetermined intervals.Accordingly, when programs on a plurality of subchannels are recorded atthe same time, while the digital data of one channel is written onto thehard disk 15, the digital data of another subchannel can be stored, andthe programs on the plurality of subchannels can be recorded on the harddisk 15 almost at the same time. Generally, an MPEG format is used asthe file record format.

[0028] Hereinafter, a method for the user to record a program on anydesired subchannel will be discussed.

[0029] When the user uses the remote controller to input a command forrecording a program on the subchannel with the smallest subchannelnumber, the user command reception section 20 receives the command andoutputs the command to the CPU 11.

[0030] In FIG. 2, the subchannel with the smallest subchannel number issubchannel 1 and therefore the CPU 11 always controls the apparatus soas to record programs only on subchannel 1 on the hard disk 15. Forexample, to record programs on subchannel 1 consecutively from 6:00 to18:00, the channel includes only subchannel 1 between 6:00 and 8:00 andthus the digital data of the whole channel is recorded. Between 8:00 and12:00, subchannels 1, 2, and 3 make up the channel and thus the digitaldata of only subchannel 1 is extracted and recorded from the whole TS.Between 12:00 and 16:00, subchannels 1 and 2 make up the channel andthus the digital data of only subchannel 1 is extracted and recordedfrom the whole TS. Since the channel includes only subchannel 1 between16:00 and 18:00, the digital data of the whole channel is recorded.

[0031] Since the whole channel provides subchannel 1 between 6:00 and8:00 and between 16:00 and 18:00, a wide band can be used and thedigital data can be made high-definition data. Likewise, between 12:00and 16:00, subchannels 1 and 2 make up the whole channel and subchannel2 is broadcast in the band occupied by subchannel 3 between 8:00 and12:00 and subchannel 1 is broadcast in the band occupied by subchannels1 and 2 between 8:00 and 12:00. The channel is thus assigned, wherebysubchannel 1 as the main can be broadcast with high-definition data asmuch as possible.

[0032] When the user uses the remote controller to select so as torecord programs of two subchannels in the ascending order of thesubchannel numbers, the CPU 11 detects the partials of the correspondingsubchannels from the whole TS and causes the system controller 14 toextract digital data of the portions of the subchannels and record thedigital data on the hard disk 15 in the predetermined format. In thetime periods in which only one subchannel is included, when thebroadcast subchannel satisfies the above-mentioned condition, the CPU 11controls the system controller 14 so as to record the program only onthe subchannel.

[0033] For example, in FIG. 2, the program only on subchannel 1 isrecorded between 6:00 and 8:00. The partials of subchannels 1 and 2 aredetected from the TS of the whole channel and the digital data only ofsubchannels 1 and 2 is recorded between 8:00 and 12:00. The channelbeing made up of only subchannels 1 and 2 is detected and the digitaldata of the whole channel is recorded between 12:00 and 16:00. Thechannel including only subchannel 1 is detected and the digital data ofthe whole channel is recorded between 16:00 and 18:00.

[0034] A method of playing back the digital data including thesubchannel thus recorded is as follows.

[0035] When the user plays back the recorded digital data and selectsany desired subchannel, the CPU 11 detects the partial of thecorresponding subchannel contained in the digital data and controls thesystem controller 14 so as to extract only the digital data of thespecified subchannel and outputs the digital data to the decoder 16. Thedigital data of the specified subchannel is decoded by the decoder 16 togenerate a video signal and an audio signal, and the video signal andthe audio signal are output to the television receiver.

[0036] In doing so, the user can record the program only on thespecified subchannel as desired and recording programs on unnecessarysubchannels can be circumvented, so that the record medium of the harddisk can be used efficiently.

[0037] For example, when subchannel 2 scheduled between 8:00 and 12:00is not broadcast, the CPU 11 records the program only on subchannel 1rather than programs on subchannels 1 and 3. When broadcast ofsubchannel 2 is restarted between 12:00 and 16:00, the CPU 11 recordsthe programs on subchannels 1 and 2. That is, the CPU 11 detects two ofthe subchannels making up the channel in the ascending order of thesubchannel numbers. If the subchannel does not exist and a subchannelwith a large subchannel number next to the subchannel number of thesetup subchannel exists at one point in the time period of preselectedrecording, the CPU 11 does not detect and does not record.

[0038] In doing so, the program on any other subchannel than thesubchannels set by the user is not recorded, so that using the recordmedium of the hard disk more than necessary can be prevented and therecord capacity can be used efficiently.

[0039] The reason why programs are recorded in the ascending order ofthe subchannel numbers as in the embodiment is that the smaller thesubchannel number, the more often the corresponding subchannel assignedto the main of the channel. For example, often subchannel 1 is the mainchannel and subchannel 2 becomes the next main channel and oftensubchannels are formed in order starting at the smallest subchannelnumber. However, if the subchannel number of the main channel is notsmall, subchannels for arbitrary recording can also be set in responseto the subchannel number.

[0040] The above-described record operation can be applied not only tothe record operation performed by the user during broadcasting, but alsoto preselected program record operation.

[0041] In the description given above, the method of recording theprograms on the two subchannels in the ascending order of the subchannelnumbers is shown, but three or more subchannels can also be set forrecording the programs on the three or more subchannels.

[0042] In the embodiment, the method of recording the digital datacontaining video data, audio data, and program information data as onefile is shown, but the video data, the audio data, and the programinformation data may be separated and recorded as different files. Inthis case, information indicating the relationship to combine the filesat the playback time may be added.

[0043] The digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus of theembodiment can also record the programs on the whole channel as theapparatus is set so as to record the programs on all subchannels.

[0044] As described above with reference to the preferred embodiment,according to the invention, one subchannel or a plurality of subchannelsbroadcast in the same time period within the same channel are selectedin response to the record description set by the user, and the programson the subchannels are recorded simultaneously, so that the user canrecord the digital data of any desired subchannel only. Further,programs on subchannels unnecessary for the user are not recorded andthus the use capacity of the record medium can be prevented frombecoming unnecessarily large and the record capacity can be usedefficiently.

[0045] When one channel is selected and the program thereon is recorded,the program(s) only on the subchannel with the smallest subchannelnumber contained in the channel is (are) recorded or the programs on thetwo subchannels in the ascending order of the subchannel numberscontained in the channel are automatically recorded. Thus, the programson the subchannels comparatively high in importance can be recordedpreferentially.

[0046] When any of the subchannels preset for recording the programsthereon becomes unreceivable, the program only on any other subchannelis continuously recorded on the record section or when any of thesubchannels preset for recording the programs thereon becomesunreceivable, the program on any other subchannel than the subchannelswith the preset subchannel numbers is not newly recorded, so that theprograms only on the subchannels desired by the user are recorded.

[0047] Although the present invention has been shown and described withreference to the specific preferred embodiment, various changes andmodifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art from theteachings herein. Such changes and modifications as are obvious aredeemed to come within the spirit, scope and contemplation of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus comprising: a receive section adapted to receive a broadcast wave provided by multiplexing broadcast signals of a plurality of channels each containing at least one subchannel; a demodulate section adapted to demodulate the broadcast signal of a selected channel and to generate video data and audio data based on the broadcast signal; a record section adapted to record the video data and the audio data generated by the demodulate section; and a control section adapted to control the record section so as to record the video data and the audio data of one of the subchannels contained in the selected channel or to simultaneously record the video data and the audio data of two or more of the subchannels according to a setup description, wherein the control section controls the record section so as to record the video data and the audio data of the subchannel with the smallest subchannel number of the subchannels contained in the selected channel or to simultaneously record the video data and the audio data on a predetermined number of subchannels in the ascending order of the subchannel numbers of the subchannels contained in the selected channel, and wherein when any of the subchannels for recording becomes unreceivable, the control section controls the record section so as to record the video data and the audio data of any other subchannel contained in the selected channel whose reception is continued.
 2. A digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus comprising: a receive section adapted to receive a broadcast wave provided by multiplexing broadcast signals of a plurality of channels each containing at least one subchannel; a demodulate section adapted to demodulate the broadcast signal of a selected channel and to generate video data and audio data based on the broadcast signal; a record section adapted to record the video data and the audio data generated by the demodulate section; and a control section adapted to control the record section so as to record the video data and the audio data of one of the subchannels contained in the selected channel or to simultaneously record the video data and the audio data of two or more of the subchannels according to a setup description.
 3. The digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the control section controls the record section so as to record the video data and the audio data of the subchannel with the smallest subchannel number of the subchannels contained in the selected channel.
 4. The digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the control section controls the record section so as to simultaneously record the video data and the audio data on a predetermined number of subchannels in the ascending order of the subchannel numbers of the subchannels contained in the selected channel.
 5. The digital broadcast receiving and recording apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein when any of the subchannels for recording becomes unreceivable, the control section controls the record section so as to record the video data and the audio data of any other subchannel contained in the selected channel whose reception is continued. 